The Struggle of Ares
by Rees Burrows
Summary: A young bounty hunter gets a second chance on a desolate and war torn world.


Chapter 1 - Nova  
  
Dawn crept slowly over the Pulner mountain range on a fine November morning. It had just rained the night before and there was nothing like early November rain on Isancrat. Then out of the corner of his eye he saw it. Legions of troopers were advancing quickly on their position in the mountain ranges.  
  
He was ready to fire, stoic looking and full of resolve. The troops were advancing quickly; it wouldn't be long now, maybe 30 seconds. There were still drops of rain on the green leaves he noticed. He slipped his scarred, pale hand down on a leaf and felt its rubbery texture.  
  
The coolness of the water then ran down his fingers as he wished for a world without war. Then he looked up and a bullet was heading straight for his head.  
  
Jeremy Brock Malson woke from his dream so scared that without thinking he began to stand up in the middle of his bed but being so close to the ceiling smacked his head on the wall. This resulted in a loud thud followed by an "Ow."  
  
He quickly looked around in the darkness and realized that everything was at peace in his room on the Nova IV, a very well built Attack and Interceptor Cruiser.  
  
As the room started to come into focus he hopped down from the lofted bed and onto the cold metallic floor. The nightmare came sweeping back to him and he again reminded himself that it was just a dream.  
  
Rubbing his head slightly and squinting a little bit, Jeremy stumbled over to the mirror in his room to see if the collision with the ceiling resulted in a cut. He peered into the mirror and glaring back at him was a tall and thin man about six feet tall, 180 pounds, and not older than 23. A patch of dirty blond hair covered his head and two deep blue eyes were still trying to sort everything out.  
  
Then out of nowhere it occurred to him that his room was quite colder than normal. Throwing on some old clothes he headed out into the event colder corridor.  
  
Attack and Interceptor Cruisers, and specifically the Nova series, were once the pride of the Isancratian army. The vessels were first produce on Isancrat before a cheaper cost forced them to Ethflack.  
  
The ships were first produced in 3261 were quicker and more maneuverable than anything at the time. In fact, it wasn't until the Kenidial Royal Fleet unveiled its Twin Pulsar Fighter almost 100 years later that it had a serious rival. The AICs were designed for combat and thus only had the capacity for five people to live in them.  
  
The unique fact of this ship however, is that it could all be operated and maintained by one person. There is central command at the top of the ship controlled all aspects of both flight and combat.  
  
Jeremy walked into the corridor leading from the dormitories to the central room. He was certain that he had not altered the internal temperature of the ship but it was definitely colder than the eight hours he had been asleep. He then looked at his watch; it was only 4am Central time. 'Christ," thought Jeremy, he had only been asleep for 3 hours, no wonder he was yawning.  
  
The corridor, just like the other hallways and a majority of the ship were a dull and whitish color, kind of like a pale blue and taupe mix. The dimly lit walkway was soothing to the man as he strolled through the cruiser all alone. In fact, he was the only person on the entire ship!  
  
At last Jeremy reached the central command room. This room was one of the largest on the ship and filled with all sorts of computers and machines with lights, dials, and buttons. It is in this room the life support systems, navigation, charting, propulsion, weapons, etc is controlled.  
  
Jeremy strolled over to one of the stations to check the temperature on the ship. Sure enough, one frosted read out said, "7.2 Degrees Celsius" and its partner said, "45 Degrees Fahrenheit."  
  
"Piece of shit," muttered Jeremy. This particular Nova IV, named Phoenix, was about 40 years old, and although designed to last through the end of time, it was starting to wear. Jeremy turned the dials so that the gauges now read the temperature he wanted, 67 degrees Fahrenheit (19.4 Celsius).  
  
Turning the dials reminded him of the first time the ship had decided to change its temperature. This seemed to happen once every couple of weeks, causing Jeremy to think it might be some sort of a wiring problem, even though he never actually pulled off the access panel under the machine to look.  
  
As he wandered away from the temperature gauges Jeremy slid down into one of the captain's chairs facing all the machines and a couple of large grey shapes above them. After hitting a few buttons on the chair's keypad the grey blinds all of a sudden began to retract.  
  
After a few seconds of a low whirling noise the panels stopped moving. He was now looking out at the stars. There were no longer any visible walls from the inside of his ship. It was as if the command room had been turned into one big window with a couple chairs and machines to mar the view.  
  
Far away from his native Isancrat, the alien sky flickered with systems and shooting stars. The gray and white objects seemed to dance against the black celestial background. He still had not bothered to turn on the lights in the room. The glow from the monitors provided him with enough light.  
  
A flicker of light in the sky that then went black told him that a ship had just gone into hyperspace nearby. Staring at the wonders in the sky a small smile crept across his face. Jeremy's thin smile remained on his face as he drifted back into the unconscious realm.  
  
Life on Isancrat was comparable to that on Earth. He was born to a working family. His father, Ryan Malson and mother, Helen Malson worked very hard to provide stabile life for their five children.  
  
Jeremy was in the middle of the pack with an older brother Trent, an older sister Lisa, a younger sister Jill, and finally a younger brother named Phil. Ryan and Helen moved to Contars on the northeastern boundaries of Isancrat before any of the children were born.  
  
Ryan worked long and hard hours in the uranium mines to feed his family. Trent, 28, had joined his father in those same mines a couple years ago before being recruited by the united squad in Belgow to play professional Kitzball. Lisa, 27, had gone off to medical school and then joined the Isancrat army as a doctor and was stationed in the Felsher Quadrant.  
  
Jill who was 22 now was in her last year of college doing an internship for Wales and Son, the largest aerospace engineering firm in the quadrant. Jeremy's younger brother Phil was only 16 and still in high school at home.  
  
All of the children had dirty blond hair and he same eyes. The exception to this was Jeremy; his seemed to be just a little deeper than the others and had a green ring around the pupil.  
  
Northeastern Isancrat was a very nice part of the country, and one of the nicest spots on the planet. Unlike many other planets, Demeter had many different climates. The climate Jeremy and his family lived in had four distinct seasons.  
  
Towards the end of every calendar year a rolling and cold winter would move in. Eventually snow would fall ceaseless from the sky and would cover the fertile lands like a soft white blanket. The moon would glisten in the long dark nights on the snow. Eventually spring would come in like a fire through a lumber yard.  
  
The snow would become nothing but memories and the air would gradually get warmer. Plant life would once again spring like it was from some underground well of life.  
  
This was Jeremy's favorite time of year, when all the other kids (along with him) started to play sports and it wasn't scorching hot yet. The short summers would bring intense heat during the day but incredibly cool temperatures at night. Finally fall would replace the summer, leaves would fall, and the temperatures would drop before winter made its inevitable arrival.  
  
After what seemed like 10 minutes, even though it was four hours, Jeremy awoke to the sound of high pitched alarms going off. The cabin was being filled with crimson floods of light and high pitched screams from every system.  
  
Quickly looking around Jeremy realized his problem. He had not set the navigation for any specific target and the ship was floating through space without a destination. With the reflexes of a cat he hopped over a taupe computer and set the dials on the Navocomp for the nearest planet in the system. 


End file.
